British Empire - Day 6

1854-59, Perkins Bacon archive sheet of 20 proof examples of the Garter 6d value, all showing waxed corners to avoid re-usage, arranged on the sheet in 4 vertical rows of 5 each in four different colours, except the 1st horizontal row all other 4 rows showing treatment with different chemicals to see if obliterations could be removed, each of the chemical treated proofs with manuscript 'Fisher'. The Royal Post office (and Rowland Hill) were nearly obsessed with the idea of possible Postal Fraud (which included removal of ink and postmarks). Being a British Commonwealth rarity this proof sheet would serve as an important addition to a specialised NSW exhibit collection resp. Commonwealth collection.

Note: similar NSW Perkins proof sheets (of usually 5 proofs each) fetched in recent auctions over the last years always around 3000-4000 GBP/€/CHF

Provenance: E. R. Slade Slade, Harmers of London, 3-4th April, 1979